Air pollution can shorten lives of 40% Indians by 9 years: Study

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, September 1

New world data on air pollution and its impact on human health have revealed that 40 per cent of Indians are on course to lose nine years of life if the air pollution levels of 2019 persist.

The annual Air Quality Life Index update published by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago says India is the most polluted country in the world, with more than 480 million people, which is about 40 per cent of the country’s population, living in the Indo-Gangetic plains of Northern India. The pollution levels in this region regularly exceed those found anywhere else in the world.

“Residents of this region, which includes the megacities of Delhi and Kolkata, are on track to lose more than nine years of life if the situation persists. Alarmingly, India’s high levels of air pollution have expanded geographically over time. Compared to a couple of decades ago, particulate pollution is no longer a feature of the Indo-Gangetic plains alone. For example, pollution has increased so much in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh that the average person in those states is now losing an additional 2.5 to 2.9 years of life expectancy, relative to the early 2000s,” the research states.

They say the rise in air pollution in South Asian over time is not surprising.

Over the last two decades, industrialisation, economic development and population growth have led to skyrocketing energy demand and fossil fuel use across the region.

Most polluted

According to annual Air Quality Life Index update published by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, India is the most polluted country in the world, with over 40 per cent population living in the Indo-Gangetic plains of North India.

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